Press Releases
Public Symposium Women, Peace and Security 25th: Towards Intergenerational initiatives
On 5 February, commencing at 3:45 p.m. for approximately two hours, a public symposium entitled ‘Women, Peace and Security 25th: Towards Intergenerational initiatives’ was held at the United Nations University on the occasion of the WPS Focal Points Network 7th Capital-Level Meeting in Tokyo and Mr. FUJII Hisayuki, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, delivered opening remarks. This event was taken place in two parts. The outline of the event is as follows.
- In his opening address, State Minister FUJII stated that he would wish to think about this critical theme together with everyone, based on the speeches made by experts from each country who are working on the WPS agenda at the forefront, and he also expressed his expectations that each one of us, including the younger generation, would take an interest in the issues of the international community, including gender equality, and that this would lead to contributions to an inclusive, peaceful and stable international society.
- Following this, Ms. Signe Guro Gilen, Special Envoy for WPS, made a brief speech on behalf of Norway, which serves as the co-chair of the WPS Focal Points Network for 2025 along with Japan.
- The first part of the symposium was a joint presentation on the theme of ‘Overview of WPS and International Trends,’ delivered by the focal points, namely Colonel Manuela-Elena Mihai, Chief of Gender Management Office, Ministry of National Defence of Romania, Ms. Sabrina Mowla-Baksh, Gender Advocate/Peacebuilder from Trinidad and Tobago, and Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for WPS.
- In the second part, a panel discussion was taken place under the title of ‘WPS and the Next Generation’ with Ms. Sawako Shirahase, Senior Vice-Rector of the United Nations University, acting as a moderator. Brief presentations were given by Ms. Carolyn Kitione, a representative of civil society in Fiji, and Ms. Ilwad Elman, a representative of civil society in Somalia, who is active in the field of peace building, and there was a very lively discussion with Japanese youth participants, namely Ms. Riyuka Suzuki and Ms. Misaki Katayama about the global initiatives as well as various issues of WPS, and the ways in which the next generation can contribute to gender equality and international peace. Finally, Ms. Kirsi Madi, the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, gave closing remarks, emphasising the importance of youth involvement, and the public symposium came to a close.
The WPS Focal Points Network is the network amongst the UN Member States to promote the WPS commitments through sharing lessons learned and good practices among Member States and regional organisations. Japan and Norway are the Co-Chairs of the Network in 2025. The WPS-FPN Seventh Capital-Level Meeting was held in Tokyo from 4 February to 6 February.